


Panic Rising

by dreamersshouldknowbetter



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 17:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10791642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamersshouldknowbetter/pseuds/dreamersshouldknowbetter





	Panic Rising

*Beep beep beep*

Betty slammed her hand down to silence the alarm and groaned. She sat up and rubbed her temples, unsuccessful in massaging away the dull ache that had persisted through the night. Swinging her legs off the side of her bed, she pushed herself up to a standing position.

“C’mon Betty, it’s just like any other day, you can do this,” the blonde haired girl mumbled to herself. She crossed over to her vanity, began to brush her hair into a tight ponytail, and braced herself for the day ahead.

\-----

“OMG you will not believe the dish I have for you” 

Betty smiled at her textbooks, “Good morning to you too, Veronica” she smirked, closing her locker door to reveal her best friend.

“Seriously B, why weren’t you answering any of my texts last night? I mean, did you see the twitter feud Cheryl and Kev got into? It was epic.”

Of course Betty had seen the messages, but she didn’t want to tell Veronica the real reason she hadn’t replied.

“Sorry I was pretty swamped last night - I just, ya know, had some stuff to do for the Blue & Gold.” 

“I thought you wrapped up the latest issue on Monday…” Veronica looked questioningly at Betty. 

Dang it.

“Oh, yeah, well I just, um, needed to get ahead on next week. You know what they say, the news never rests!” Betty flashed a what she hoped was a convincing smile, “But not to worry - I saw the whole thing this morning.”

“Saw what this morning?” Kevin interjected, walking up behind Veronica and hooking his arm in hers.

“Why, your epic take down of Cheryl last night, of course” Veronica smiled lovingly at the boy. Betty took a breath of relief at the distraction he provided.

“Well, there was no way I was going to let Cheryl get away with claiming Christina Aguilera was the queen of pop when Britney Spears exists! I mean, it’s blasphemous!” Kevin feigned horror at the thought, Veronica giggling in approval.

The two began chattering away, providing Betty the freedom to lose herself in thought.

“Hey there Juliet.” Betty jumped at the sound of the low voice, lips dangerously close to her ear. 

“Oh, hi Jughead.” A blush crept up Betty’s neck, embarrassed at having been caught so off guard. 

“Hi.” Jughead’s eyes searched her face, sensing that something was off. Betty’s eyes shifted down to her feet, afraid to meet Jughead’s look. 

“Betty, is everything oka-”

“I’ve gotta get to class” she cut him off, practically sprinting down the hall to avoid questions. Jughead was left standing in the hallway, an oblivious Kevin and Veronica still chatting away beside him.

\-----

Jughead was staring. He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. Besides, it didn’t matter. No matter how much he stared, the blonde beauty across the table refused to meet his gaze. Something was wrong, he could just tell. 

He’d been watching her all day - watching her smile and laugh and converse like nothing was wrong. But her smile never seemed to reach her eyes, her laugh lacked it’s usual sparkle, and in all of her conversations she seemed distant. The strangest thing was that no one seemed to notice. Heck, even Jughead almost missed it. Betty had a knack for acting, he’d observed. Jughead suspected years of trying to be perfect for her mother had taught her a thing or two. 

“Mr. Jones-”

Jughead jumped at the sound of the voice, snapping him out of his haze. He looked up to find his Chemistry teacher standing in front of him, hand out expectantly awaiting something.

“What?”

“Your assignment?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” Jughead dug his papers out of his backpack and handed then to his teacher, who gave him a disapproving glare before continuing down the row.

“Miss Cooper? May I please have your assignment?”

“I, um… I don’t have it.”

Jughead’s head snapped up in shock, and he quickly saw that he wasn’t the only one to respond in such a way. 

“You… don’t have it?” The teacher repeated each words slowly, seemingly just as unable to process the perfect Betty Cooper missing an assignment as the rest of his class.

“No sir.” Betty’s voice came out small and quiet.

The teacher continued to stand in surprise for a moment, before coming to his senses and realizing he was making a scene. “Yes, um, alright.”

As the teacher stepped away, the class suddenly came back to life, and the moment was practically forgotten. Betty stared hard down at her lap, face going unnaturally pale. It took everything Jughead had in him to not jump out of his seat right then and there. In reality, he probably would have, but, before his impulse got the best of him, the bell rang. Betty practically flew out of her seat and out the door, and Jughead ran after her.

\-----

She could feel the walls closing in on her. She needed to go somewhere. Anywhere. The bathroom? Too public. Janitor’s closet? Locked.

The Blue & Gold. That would be her escape.

Rushing into the office, Betty shut the door and slid down to the floor, holding her head between her knees. 

Breathe, Betty. Breathe.

Her chest tightened and shook with every breath. Despite it being completely empty, the room was somehow too crowded. The air was stale, too thick to breathe. Everything was wrong. She was all wrong. Her fingers gripped her knees, nails digging into her skin and leaving imprints that grew deeper with each passing second.

Breathe, Betty! Breathe!

Her mind was screaming at her, but externally there was only silence. Everything in the room felt blurry and far away, she was completely disconnected from her surroundings. It was all underwater, and she was drowning. The only thing Betty could process was her heartbeat. Her heartbeat and… something.

A noise was making it’s way through the haze, pulling Betty from the depths of her own mind. It took several moments before she could register that it was a knocking at the door.

Scrambling to her feet, Betty rubbed her face in an attempt to pull herself back into reality. She tightened her ponytail and plastered a grin on her face before opening the door.

“Oh, hi Juggie! What’s up?” She registered that her voice was a bit too high.

“Betty, is everything okay? What’s going on with you?” Jughead moved into the room, shutting the door behind himself and turning to face her.

“What? Is this because of that assignment? It’s not a big deal. Seriously Juggie don’t be so serious.” Betty let out a laugh that hung awkwardly in the air, trying her hardest to remain casual and calm.

“Okay, now I know something is wrong. Come here.” Jughead grabbed Betty by the arm, pulling her over to the couch and forcing her to sit down. “Talk to me Bets.”

“I’m fine!” Jughead looked at her with utter disbelief, but still she persisted. “Jughead I’m fine.”

“Betty… why didn’t you get the assignment done? Just tell me and I’ll let it go.”

“I just - well, you see I -” Betty was practically stuttering, “I had an article for the Blue and Gold!” Quickly recalling the excuse she had given to Veronica, Betty latched onto the story. “You know how it is, I find a story, I just can’t stop until I finish it! I didn’t realize I hadn’t completed the assignment, it just slipped my mind!”

“Okay…” Jughead still didn’t seem to accept her excuse, “What was the article about? Could I read it? I can help with edits.”

“Edits? Oh, of course. The only problem with that is… well, um…” Panic rose within Betty’s chest as she realized her excuse was falling apart. Why couldn’t she have been smarter about this?

Idiot.

“Betty.” Jughead’s caring tone morphed into something more stern, “Betty I need you to tell me what on earth is going on with you!”

“FINE!” Betty jumped to her feet, the intensity in her voice taking Jughead aback, “You wanna know what’s going on? You really want to know?!” Betty was practically screaming, but it was too late to turn back now. Something inside of her had snapped. “I’m not okay! I’m not sleeping, I’m not eating, I’m falling apart! I didn’t finish my homework because, for some perverted reason, I couldn’t find motivation to do anything more than stare at my ceiling! All night, all I could do was stare! And now, here I am, feeling like I can’t breathe or think or do anything and I just - I just - I - I don’t know, okay?! I’m just not okay, okay?!”

Jughead stared, dumbfounded and in awe of what had just transpired. The perfect girl he had spent years admiring had cracked to pieces in front of him. He longed to put all the pieces back together, to make things right once more, but he had no idea where to begin. He was desperate to help, but he couldn’t bring himself to do any more than stare. 

Lacking the words he so desperately clung to, Jughead reacted in the only way he knew how: he stepped forward and wrapped both his arms around her. The moment he made contact, a single sob escaped from Betty’s throat, and she crumpled. Jughead held on for dear life, following her to the floor. And there they remained, curled up together, Betty’s body heaving silently in despair. With every second Jughead tightened his grip, terrified that if he were to let go she may disintegrate in his arms.

His heart felt like it had been torn from his chest. Feeling her body tremble beneath him caused an earthquake to rip through his soul. He slowly rocked her back and forth, unable to keep the tears from streaming down his face. This brokenness, this naked truth that had been exposed was too much. It was all too much. On anyone else, he could have handled it. But Betty. Oh, Betty. Anyone but Betty. Betty was his light. She was everything good in the world, everything that made sense. And in that moment, he would give his life to make that statement true once more. 

Slowly, Betty’s body stilled. And there they sat, on the floor of the Blue & Gold, in silence.

“Betty?” Jughead spoke timidly, afraid he may upset the precarious balance they had discovered in the quiet.

Sniffling, Betty’s voice came out soft and small, “Yeah?”

“What can I do? How can I fix this? Please, let me fix this.”

Betty sat up and brought her knees to her chest, leaning against Jughead as she spoke, “You can’t fix this Juggie. No one can. This is just how life is.”

“Hey. Don’t say that Bets. This does not have to be your life. We can get you help, we can fix this, we can -” He stopped short when he saw the look of hopelessness in her eyes, his words falling on deaf ears. Jughead took a deep breath, and placed his arm gently around her shoulder. “Look, Betty, I know there isn’t much I can say. And I’m not really sure what I can do. But I can promise you one thing.”

“What’s that?” Betty looked up at Jughead, her voice breathy and distant.

“I can promise you, that no matter what, no matter how you’re feeling or what you’re doing, I will be here. I will always be here.”

Tears glistened in Betty’s eyes, threatening to spill over. “You promise?” Her voice was almost a whisper.

Jughead pulled Betty close, placing a single kiss upon her temple. 

“I promise.”


End file.
